Room at the Top (1959)

March 31, 1959

Screen: 'Room at Top'

By A. H. WEILER

Published: March 31, 1959

THE cynical, disenchanted and footloose post-war youths of England, who justifiably have been termed "angry," never have been put into sharper focus than in "Room at the Top." The British-made import, which was unveiled at the Fine Arts Theatre yesterday, glaringly spotlights them in a disk of illumination that reveals genuine drama and passion, truth as well as corruption. Although it takes place 3,000 miles away, it is as close to home as a shattered dream, a broken love affair or a man seeking to make life more rewarding in an uneasy world.

Unlike John Osborne, who, in "Look Back in Anger," merely shouted the sensitive younger Britishers' fiery protests against class distinctions and other contemporary English inequities, John Braine, out of whose brilliant first novel this careful dissection was made, is more adult and scientifically observant about a grievous malaise. Mr. Braine, Neil Paterson, the scenarist, and Jack Clayton, who did a superb job in directing an excitingly effective cast, are angry, too. But they see the picture whole. They are basically moral people who know that, come what may, a price must be paid for revolt sometimes.

As has been noted, Mr. Braine is concerned with a type of schemer, whose accent may be exotic but one who is becoming more and more symbolic of the restless young men of the world. In this case, he is Joe Lampton, born to poverty in a North Country manufacturing town but determined to catapult himself out of a world he never made or wanted. As a civil servant in another city, he meets the nubile and naive daughter of the richest tycoon who represents the prize and escape he has been waiting for. But this is a consummation not easily achieved. And, when thrown into the orbit of a married woman, ill-used, worldly wise, anxiously groping for real affection, it is fairly obvious that he will succumb first to lust and then to genuine love.

That this dual affair is doomed to tragedy is inevitable. But the artisans who fashioned this shaky triangle are neither crude nor insensitive. Joe is a calculating, shrewd and realistic campaigner, yearning for wealth and the opportunity to rid himself of low-caste stigma through marriage with the heiress to a great fortune. He is, however, also pictured as a man in whom all conscience has not been killed. He is a hero without medals and one mourning defeat when he should be enjoying victory.

The director and scenarist also have shown us a multidimensional figure in the married woman he is forced to reject, a deed that indelibly underlines the sadness, desperation and tragedy that surrounds these truly ill-fated lovers. And they have done equally well by the rich, sheltered young girl he marries at long last, an untutored youngster wholly engulfed by the sweetness, wonder and uneasiness of first love and sex.

A prudish observer perhaps might be shocked by some of the drama's explicit dialogue and situations, but these, too, are adult and in context. One also might be thrown by the thick, Yorkshire-like accents of the cast, which strike foreign and harsh on American ears. A viewer might take exception to the slowness of pace as this somber play is first exposed.

But these are minor faults that are heavily outweighed by the superb performances of Simone Signoret, as the married woman clutching at her last chance at happiness, and Laurence Harvey, the seemingly selfish schemer, who discovers that he cannot destroy all of his decency. Heather Sears is gentle, fresh and properly naive as the heiress he is forced to marry; and Sir Donald Wolfit, as her outspoken, self-made millionaire father; Donald Houston, as Mr. Harvey's room-mate and confidant, and Hermione Baddeley, as Miss Signoret's trusted friend, are among those supporting players who add distinctive bits to an engrossing picture.

Jack Clayton's vigorous and discerning direction has involved them in more than just a routine romantic drama. "Room at the Top" may be basically cheerless and somber, but it has a strikingly effective view.